Nodding toward my daughter as she took off in a "I'm sorry, I can't stay to chat" kind of way, I followed Erin to the blue carts and caught my reflection in a mirror.

Ok, dude. Dude. You're blushing. What the hell is wrong with you? Why is it bothering you so much that you ran into this person? Although it's good that you ran into her today, clean-shaven and with your hair actually brushed and in place and nicely cut instead of on one of your scruffy days.

Nicely cut...

And then it crashed down upon me, who this woman was and why I had hoped to never see her out in public. She was my hair stylist from The Man Spa, and I had canceled on her to go to my old barber. I had cheated on her, and all for the sake of saving some money in the new economy; not caring that she would miss me; not caring that she also could use some extra cash during hard times.

That's the problem with the natural instinct to save during recession; it's completely reinforcing of the recession. Confidence is low because the chances of the money continuing to flow to consumers look reduced; but since confidence is low consumers save rather than spend, which guarantees that money will not flow to other consumers, who then are uncertain about the economy and do their own best to save, spiting everyone's faces and flinging severed noses everywhere.

Thankfully, by the time I had returned to the spot whence Erin and I had made our exeunt she was gone, and I confessed to Emily who the strange woman had been.

"Ah," she said, "she might as well have caught you with your tongue down some other woman's throat."

I'm sorry, Stylist. My barber may be blind, but he's cheap and doesn't force me to reflect on myself too much. He doesn't make me ask hard questions about the image I want to portray to the world. When I sit in his chair he just says one thing:

"So, looks like you need a 'medium'."

And that's the kind of relationship I need right now, in these uncertain times.

I can't imagin cheating on my hairdresser! And it's been confirmed for me because mine is on mat leave right now and her friend who is taking care of me in the meantime just gave me a haircut that looks like crap with my lack of styling skillz. sigh. At least mine knew that kind of thing.

1. I wish I had his hair(scruffy or 'medium')2. I wonder if that backpack I got with all my Marlboro Miles would hold 'J' our 20 month old?3. For those of you that are wondering whether to change stylists A. Are they any good? B. Would they notice you gone?4. Economics do suck right now, all the more reason to appreciate the customers you have and to go out of your way to keep them coming back.5.You're still reading, Shawn has much better stuff in his archives to read than anything else I am saying here.

Dude, last week, I went to get my hair cut ($48 including tip....not cool), and sat there silently while my longtime stylist ran her fingers through my hair and remarked on how well my color had turned out "for an at-home job."

We all do what we have to do, and I'm not above buying my hair color at Target. With a coupon.

Very nice post. I love the flow of it. As for economics, I'm with you - recession begets recession. We contributed to the economy by driving 9,611 miles over the course of 10 weeks (17 states) when gas was 4-friggin'-50 a gallon! Now THAT'S consumer confidence!

i feel your pain. my hairdresser works inside the mall i spend WAYTOOMUCHTIMEAT...and every time i pass the salon with my split ends and horrific roots, i look in the other direction because i feel so guilty that i haven't been to see her.

I think there's a strange connection between a man and his barber/hairdresser. Have you ever tried a new barber and then gone back to your old one? You feel kind of compelled to explain how your hair got shorn in between visits.

Instead, you sit in an uncomfortable silence. At least that's what I do!

that's funny, funny that....I had my long hair chopped by stylist M, she messed it up bad...so stylist L fixes it for me some month or so later.......need a trim, M is getting same style cut from L, I couldn't tell M that I wanted L to do it, I mean, that's so not a good idea,

guess what? M did me wrong again, M is off tomorrow and L is gonna try to straighten her mess up yet again...argh

at least men don't have that problem.......my 3 all get buzz cuts every time...easey peasey

My best friend cuts my entire family's hair and I had to cheat on her yesterday. My boys both desperately needed a cut and yesterday was the only day I could do it until next week. They could not wait another week. So I took them to a quick walk in walk out joint and now I'm paying the price cuz they did a really bad job on their hair.